Is bodybuiling natural?

[Bigbwii]

If not, is there really anything in our diets that can really rebuild and maintain us?

[VeganEssentials]

It's a tough question to answer....

 

It isn't usually "natural" to do more work than is required, so in that sense, bodybuilding is unnatural as it is not an activity needed to sustain yourself (unlike hauling hay bales or carrying stone slabs for a living). However, long before our time most people had physically strenuous jobs and would build muscle more naturally through hard work of daily lifting through job activities or chores, and any building was done mostly inadvertantly. This would be the most "natural" way, but for the appearance or specific strengths that people typically desire you won't be able to round it out very well with relying on such things.

 

Diet alone cannot "build" in any way, only repair and work to build upon microtrauma inflicted upon muscles by lifting things. If you don't force your body to grow through hard work, that extra food is likely going to go everywhere but the places that you want it! Same goes for maintenance - if you're not lifting to keep up the muscle and force it to continue existing, you'll see those extra calories add weight in undesirable ways, hence the silly notion of "muscle turning into fat" that people always state. If only they understood that it was because you can't eat as if you have 200 lbs. of lean mass when you are only maintaining enough in your workouts to need far less!

 

Ryan

[Bigbwii]

Good point VE, I also wonder what would compare to BodyBuilding if it wasn't around? running from predators, climbing to transport oneself, would you intentionaly make yourself so tired by working out that it made it harder to protect yourself or your family from danger? do you ever see wild animals working out? of course I'm going way back!!!

[Richard]

Yeah I wonder what humans would 'naturally' do in the 'wild'. That would be an indication of how 'natural' bodybuilding is in comparison. I would say that lifting a weight over and over again isn't 'natural', in as much as, I doubt that humans would choose to do this in the wild. But maybe humans would go through similar motions in their day to day lives like Captain V.E said